The Visit of the French Hens
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day fifty-four: 12 Days of Gleekmas, Day 3: Santana is visited by her musical inspirations, her three aunts, when they come down from Paris.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle. Now entering the seventh through ninth weeks, here comes cycle 3 of my gleekathon!_

_I wanted to do something Christmas-y, but not overly so, but then the song was perfect for this. So the stories in and of themselves aren't Christmas-themed, just the thing that inspired them is ;) You'll see :)_

_So presenting... **The 12 Days of Gleekmas - Day 3:** Santana + "Three French Hens"_

* * *

**"The Visit of the French Hens"  
Santana**

There weren't many things that could get Santana truly and openly excited. But there was one thing that would get her every time and that was when her aunts would come down to Lima.

Eva, Rosa, and Sofia were her father's younger sisters. They'd made their life's work out of their singing act and that life had taken them to Paris twenty years before. They came down to Ohio once a year, twice if time allowed. Santana's mother didn't care for them, which had granted them the nickname of the "French hens."

As far as Santana was concerned, her views of the trio couldn't be further from her mother's. Her aunts had always been her idols, those she tried to emulate. They were the reason she'd started singing. And now she had quite the stories to tell them. Sure, she hadn't exactly joined Glee Club for the purest of reasons or for her love of singing. Still, that love had definitely made joining the club a little more than just backing up a friend.

She hadn't told them about it at first. Her father had wanted her to tell them – just as much as she was proud of them, they were proud of her. They were like her fairy godmothers. She wasn't going to tell them she'd joined when she couldn't also claim that it had her heart.

She'd called them the night of the invitationals. She'd stayed up until one in the morning, waiting for it to be a proper hour for calling. Sofia had picked up, always the first one up. The youngest of the sisters, she was the one Santana connected to the most. She'd started to fall asleep before making the call, but once she had her on the line and started telling her about Glee Club, and the night's performances.

She'd spoken with Sofia for almost forty minutes before Eva had come along and been given the phone. Santana had repeated her story for her, and again for Rosa twenty-five minutes later, when she'd come along as well. By the time she'd hung up with all of them, it was nearly four. She'd slept right through and missed first period the next morning, but she didn't care.

In the weeks following, her aunts had been keeping up with her progress, as best as their schedule allowed. They'd exchange e-mails most of the time, where Santana would tell them about the different numbers they did. It was in writing to them, without feeling the need to restrain herself, that she'd started to realize just how much she'd come to appreciate being part of Glee. She wasn't going to tell any of the others that… But knowing it was at the very least important to her.

She'd come home with aching arms the day they'd done their number in wheelchairs. That pain had mostly been forgotten once she'd been informed by her mother that 'the French hens' were descending upon Lima in mid-December.

Knowing their visit would come along after Sectionals, she made sure they wouldn't know how it had all turned out, so she could tell them face to face. Sofia had promised she'd keep her sisters from sneaking for information.

The day they were set to arrive, Santana was positively excited. Her mother had a 'headache' from the moment she'd gotten up that day. She wasn't going to let her theatrics ruin the day.

When she heard her father's car horn outside, she felt like a kid on Christmas morning. She moved to get down to the door just as the sisters came through the threshold.

The greetings were loud. Everyone spoke at once, as Santana hugged each of the aunts. Once the hugging session ended, Rosa grabbed her niece's hands.

"Tell us now?" she asked anxiously. "All this suspense!" Santana smirked, playing innocent for only a moment before the grin that kicked off another round of cacophonous hugging.

The aunts sat listening to their niece's retelling of the events for the next hour, with the appropriate responses to the developments – outrage over the set list debacle, happiness at their rise to victory – that could show how much Santana had gotten from them over the years. It had all ended on a request for her to give them an impromptu presentation of their winning song. For them she happily obliged, Sofia was the first to join in, soon joined by Eva and Rosa. Santana's father gave it his shot as well, lastly joined by his wife, finally making it unanimous.

After dinner, Santana went to find her aunt Sofia outside. Though she'd been trying to give it up, she was a smoker. As her sister-in-law wouldn't allow it inside, Sofia had gone outside. The chill of winter made Santana draw her scarf tighter as she came to stand with Sofia. She gave her niece a smile.

"You look happy," she gave her shoulder a bump, and Santana looked down with a smile. "You know what we need to do now," she nodded.

"What?" she looked over at her.

"You need to come up to Paris and join us for a couple shows," she smirked, then laughed, seeing the look on her face.

THE END


End file.
